legal advice and representation. the direction that representation could take in a particular case depends on the facts. but they will know that there's an entire network of national lawyers that is there to uphold the rule of law in the polling place and in the operation of the democracy. and so there's a number they can call. there is going to be a network of lawyers they can draw upon, assign to them in particular jurisdictions lawyers in their jurisdictions that can give them that support. >> ben, we saw in some high profile cases, for instance, georgia, where you saw state election officials really being the backbone and providing the dam that didn't break when it came to upholding the election. some of these dams have been broken ahead of the next election. how concerned are you that there may not actually be resource to deal with that? >> well, we hope this network will help provide some recourse to deal with that.

it is a question, i think, of looking at the laws and the individual states and finding the right lawyers and attempts. but these laws that are being passed and the efforts to weaponize poll watchers in the polling place are all part of thinking, i think wrongly that intimidation of election officials is going to help republicans. i think what my fellow republicans are not recognizing is what goes around can come around and that this weaponization in election laws can be turned on them. this is not going to be a one-way street. and that overall is bad for the democracy. >> yeah. it's not what any party should be about. >> no. >> right. we're seeing that as you two join together. ben, thank you so much. bob, really appreciate it. >> it's a pleasure. thank you. "new day" continues right now.

♪ welcome to our viewers not united states and all around the world. i'm john berman with brianna keilar on this "new day." we do have breaking news. a covid decision that will immediately affect thousands of children and could eventually influence millions and millions of school kids in america. and a matter of hours, los angeles could become the largest public school district in the country to require vaccinations for students 12 and up. the school board votes today on the mandate and one member tells "new day" it is expected to pass. the plan requires vaccines for students 12 and older who are part of in-person extracurricular programs by october 31st. the vaccination deadline for attending in-person classes is december 19th with a few exemptions allowed. tonight, president biden will address the nation to roll out his new six-point plan for stopping the pandemic in its tracks. that is the goal. the virus is surging. hospitals in a number of states are near or at capacity.

children representing one out of every four new cases and the president planning to focus on vaccinating the unvaccinated on booster shots, keeping schools open, ramping up testing, mask mandates and a new push toward mandating vaccines. so let's begin now with jeremy diamond live for us at the white house with our top story. what is ahead? what are we going to hear from the president, jeremy? >> reporter: good morning, brianna. president biden is expected to outline a revamped strategy for tackling this coronavirus pandemic in a speech this afternoon. the president will be pushing for new vaccine mandates as well as increased testing across the country. those are a couple of the six pillars that white house officials disclosed to us so far for what the president is going to be focussing on. you can see they're vaccinating the unvaccinated. further protection for the vaccinated. expect to hear about booster shots in that portion of the speech as well as also looking at the economic recovery and making sure the economy can continue to push forward even as this pandemic continues to rage.

but one thing is very clear, this is going to be a very different speech from the one we heard from president biden two months ago ahead of the july 4th holiday when the president said that we are closer than ever to declaring independence over this virus. in those two months we have watched coronavirus cases skyrocket, surging across the country amid the spread of this delta variant. and so now clearly the president facing a lower approval rating for his handling of the pandemic, sees a need to show that he is on top of this and what more his administration can do. the question is, of course, this administration so far has said they don't believe they have the power to mandate vaccines for all americans across the country. but we have watched over the last couple of months as the administration has taken more steps in that direction and also encouraging the private sector to do its part as well. i think you can hear more of that later today as well. brianna? >> certainly looking forward to that. jeremy diamond, thank you so much. live from the white house. we'll also speak with the white house press secretary jen

psaki coming up. the biden biden administration asked for resignation from appointed boards. one member refusing to resign megan mobbs an appointed member of the board of visitors at west point. she is also a veteran of the war in afghanistan and she is an advocate for veterans and military families. megan, thank you so much for being with us this morning. can you just tell us off the start here why are you refusing to resign? >> first of all, thank you so much for having me on. i appreciate the opportunity to share my perspective. the reason why i'm refusing to resign it is imperative we do not politicize our military academies. when i was first appointed to the board, there were four obama appointee holdovers that were there serving out their three-year terms. i was graciously welcomed, treated with dignity and respect and that type of nonpartisan

engagement is what we need in america right now, the ability to come together, have discussions bring different perspectives, have these conversations. that's one reason why i'm not going to step down. >> so why do you think you were asked to resign? >> i think it is for a variety of reasons. the only way i can imagine is because of this politicization or this kind of wanting to capture this as being a political appointed board. while you are appointed by the commander in chief, the president, who by their very nature is from a political party, this advisory board igts is remarkably nonpartisan, one of the last places in america where those things are checked at the door. what comes first is the health, the well being of the cadets to make sure at least speaking act west point right now, to make sure they have the best possible opportunity to become excellent army officers. >> you know, let me ask you about that because you say it's not about politicizing the board and you say the president shouldn't politicize the military.

didn't president trump politicize the military? >> i think there's a long history of many presidents politicizing the military. and honestly what i really want to speak about, though, is this administration's decision to do so versus decisions made by previous administrations because it's important in this moment now to accept what's happening because this has not been happened before. this is an unprecedented move by a president to dissolve all boards, all appointees and label them all as being unqualified. >> okay. so, i want to ask you a little bit about that because you say it's about focussing on what biden is doing, not what trump is doing. you obviously were an adviser to the campaign, former president trump's re-election campaign, when it came to veteran and military family outreach. you have recently been very outspoken about what you talk about and, look, many people have talked about as the moral injury of the evacuations from

afghanistan. as an adviser to the trump campaign, did you advise them or the president on the moral injury of basically scrapping the siv program that contributed to the difficulties that we've seen in evacuating afghan allies? >> so that wasn't something that i worked on. it would be very hard for me to speak on. something i'm often an advocate for is mental health for all of our veterans across administrations and something i think is remarkably again bipartisan and nonpartisan ensuring the health and well being of our veterans, military and our military families are first and foremost in a variety of ways and this includes at the v.a. and includes during their period of service and also during their period of being at the academies ensuring we're taking proper and appropriate precautions to make sure those needs are addressed. every opportunity i can speak about getting left of bang ahead of any of these issues that might occur as a result of military service i'm a very outspoken advocate for that. >> yeah, look, certainly not

taking away from your advocacy on that where you talk about the importance of transitions for military personnel and just how that can affect their mental health. you talked about a number of issues that i think there's broad bipartisan agreement on saying that, hey, these are things that should be addressed. you also, though, you were an adviser to the trump campaign and i do wonder if, for instance, on that, you know, we've seen president trump just yesterday praising or not praising, really pushing back on the removal of this robert e. lee statue in richmond. he actually referred to the former confederate general as a unifying force. he said if only we had robert e. lee to command our troops in afghanistan that disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago. what an embarrassment we're suffering because we don't have the genius of robert e. lee. you know, i want to ask you about that because as someone on the board of visitors for west

point, you're well aware that west point is trying to figure out what to do with all of its stuff that's named after robert e. lee, lee bare ricks that you or while you were at west point one of your fellow cadets may have actually stayed in as a dorm. you know, what do you say when you hear the former president saying things like this? >> so, we serve at the current pleasure of the current president which is why he's able to terminate in the way that he did. so my focus is ensuring that we're representing those values and those ethics when we come to the board of visitors and making sure again those decisions that you're talking about are outside of the purview of the advisory board. we're there to provide insight around curriculum, around discipline, about fiscal expenditures around those sorts of things. so we're not necessarily having discussions around any of the things that you just mentioned. one of the things we do speak about which i think is important that we do bring up very frequently is the rise of sexual harassment and sexual assault in our military academies and in the military broadly speaking.

so those are the things that we're focussed on. we're focussing how we can best and appropriately meet the needs and demands of the cadets so the conversations that you're mentioning aren't things that happen at the advisory board. >> do you see how some of the folks that president biden and the biden administration have looked at here are people who maybe don't belong on advisory boards for service academies, for instance, former kernel who has attacked the role of women in certain military situations? or has you know advanced replacement theory or a former appointee who tried to get election fraud information to the white house from the doj or people who enabled the big lie which was really the impetus for many veterans and even active duty service members breaking into congress. do you see a distinction here between some people like an hr mcmaster or i'm sure you would

put yourself in this category, someone -- he's being honored as a graduate of west point here soon. do you think that it makes sense that some of these people should have been scrapped but that you're not one of them? how are you seeing this? >> so, i can only speak for myself. i haven't met the individual that you're speaking act. we haven't had a board meeting since the election because of the suspension of all the board. so i've never worked alongside him or know him personally. so again i can only speak for myself. and what i can -- >> you megan, megan, let's not dodge that. because you don't have to work alongside someone to know that they promote replacement theory or that they attack women being in military roles that men are in. i mean, you know, you know the record of some of these people. so do you think that it makes sense that some of these people would be scrapped? >> so i think it makes sense that any president can look at those that are appointed and make the decision to assess on

an individual basis. i absolutely think the president obviously has that ability and that purview to do so. i think wholesale scrapping every appointee and throwing kind of the baby out with the bath water sets a very dangerous precedent because this sets a precedent for future administrations to do the exact same thing. and it prevents the ability of what i spoke about previously the ability for people with different perspectives that are rooted in very good intention and beliefs around the best way to serve cadets can come together and can have these discussions and have this discourse that's done in a respectful way. and by doing this, it sets the precedent that in the future someone disagrees with someone they can just label them as being unqualified or just scrap them wholesale and it prevents the ability of having those conversations that i think are imperative for our democracy. >> megan, i want to thank you for having this conversation. look, it's one we very much need to have as we look at the credentials of all of these individuals who are on these service academy advisory boards. and i appreciate you coming on to talk about it. >> thank you so much for having

me. hospitals strapped, resources strained and now prominent voices in the media are speaking up blaming those who refuse to be vaccinated. cnn returns to one rural town almost a year later to see whether this latest surge in cases and hospitalizations has changed any minds. >> have you thought about getting the vaccine? >> no way. >> oh, really, how come? >> because i don't want to get sick. him to be here. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it's mandatory to get vaccinated. [ bleep ] their freedom, i want my freedom to live. i want to get out of the house already. i want to go next door and play chess. i want to go take some pictures. >> i want to do all those things. so many hospitals filling up with unvaccinated covid patients. late night host jimmy kimmel saying this about who should be getting priority care. >> dr. fauci said if hospitals get any more overcrowd they have had to make some very tough choices about who gets an icu bed. that choice doesn't seem so tough to me. vaccinated person having a heart attack, yes, come right on. we'll take care of you. unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo. rest in peace, weezy. >> here is west virginia governor jim justice who seems exhausted trying to cut through the lies being spread about vaccines. >> for god sakes of living, how difficult is this to understand,

why in the world do we have to come up with these crazy ideas and they're crazy ideas, that the vaccine has something in it and it's tracing people wherever they go. and the same very people that are saying that are carrying their cell phones around. i mean, come on. >> joining us now cnn political commentator michael smerconish, host of cnn smerconish and general star of the radio. so let me ask you what you think about this? >> well, i'm a howard super fan. when he said it, i was cheering him on as i was listening. you know, we talk a lot in this country about the 1%ers. there's a great spread right now in the new york post of all places about the 99%ers, drawing on the fact that according to cdc data january through the end of august, 99% of all hospitalizations for covid-related illness, the unvaccinated. those who are not fully

vaccinated. similarly, 99% of covid deaths, january through the end of august, all those unvaccinated. so, the time for cajoling i think is over. we're no longer dealing with vaccine hesitant. i'm not going to say that anymore. it's the vaccine on csta nant. we have to force people to get vaccinated. one last thing if i may. this is happy and sad at the same time. i'm dying to show people my vax card. the only place i've been asked to show it was at a dead & company convert. this cloud of lawlessness we all knew we had to show our vax card to get into the show and we were fine with it. >> yeah. i see berman chuckling. he loves that. i thought i would be carrying my vaccine card around showing it places and it's only -- i used it to get into my kid's school so i could volunteer at the

library. that's really the only place i had to show my card. and i just wonder what you think we had people on the show, michael, who we had the mom of a veteran whose son couldn't get into the icu because of people with covid in the icu and he died because of the delay in care. so i wonder what you make of this conversation about hospitals prioritizing vaccinated or unvaccinated people in a crisis of care situation. >> so, i don't think it's just the stuff of a late night routine by jimmy kimmel. it was nancy gibbs, the former editor at "time" in an essay for the washington post. it stands out in my mind because i used it for radio fodder. she put forth this idea that if we're allocating scarce resources we ought to have consideration for that fact. i'll give you another example i view similarly. there was a representative of kaiser health, it may have been their ceo, i forget her name. who said why aren't we charging for for insurance among the

unvaccinated? in the same way we factor in smoking and risky behavior. these are people making a conscious decision not to get vaccinated, defying the science. i'm sorry. i'm tired of trying to coax them along. the time for coaxing is over. so, give me governor justice, give me howard stern, and give me jimmy kimmel. >> you know, michael, i like to say i need a miracle everyday. this vaccine is a miracle in so many ways protecting us. can you be specific about how you would stop coddling the unvaccinated? what you are supporting exactly. >> okay. so, let's begin with president -- let's begin with president biden and the speech he'll deliver today because i think his is a half measure. i don't think he's done the full monty in terms of saying the federal employees, you must be vaccinated. we'll contemplate a religious

exemption, that's a subject we ought to debate in the future because no major religion is at odds with the notion of vaccination. i recognize some people for medical reasons can't get vaccinated. okay. they should have a negative covid test. but, law enforcement, if you're a police officer, like this union b.s. in some departments standing up for cops who don't want to get -- screw that. if you're in the front line as an emt, as a firefighter, as a cop, as a government employee anywhere, you're getting vaccinated. how about flying on airlines? i'm back resuming now travel for speaki ing engagements. i'm surrounded by people i have no idea what their vax status. we're wearing masks. i'm cool with that. private employers, my lawyer firm was on the cutting edge, the law firm i'm associated months ago saying you must be vaccinated to work here. you guys know, cnn drawing a hard line as well, which i totally applaud. that's what's necessary.

forget trying to sell people because they don't want to be sold. it's like they're taking pride in the fact that they're saying screw you to all of those of us who are vaccinated and are lying on the cdc guidance. so stop with the cajoling already. >> listen to bob we're and michael smerconish. thank you both very much. you can watch smerconish and dancing bears saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. we do have more breaking news this morning. a flight carrying about 200 people including a number of u.s. nationals has, we're told, just taken off from the airport in kabul. we'll ask the white house press secretary about the plan to get americans out safely. plus, this -- >> this is a very -- this is a very -- >> shut up. >> this is -- >> that is a high school

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we have breaking news. los angeles could become the largest school district in the nation to require vaccinations for students 12 and older. a vote is planned for today. in the meantime, president biden will lay out his administration's revamped approach to ending the pandemic. joining us now is white house press secretary jen psaki. good morning, jen. thank you so much for being with us. >> good morning. >> look, the breaking news out of los angeles is big. it directly impacts thousands of children soon and could influence the course for millions of others. what is the white house view about schools --

>> good for them? >> good for them? >> good for them. absolutely, john. look, we know what works in schools. we know that getting your kids vaccinated if they're 12 and older works. we know having more adults, teachers, people working in schools works. and for kids who are under 12, the best thing we can do is ensure that every adult around them is vaccinated. this type of a step is a step toward that. so definitely a positive sign. >> does the white house encourage school districts or states around the country to put in vaccine mandates for 12-year-olds and older? >> well, look, every school is going to make their own decision, but certainly putting in place requirements that would increase the number of people who are vaccinated, decrease the number of people who are unvaccinated around kids is a step forward and something, yes, we've been encouraging. >> will the white house take federal action in order to get more school districts to do this? >> well, it's always up to local school districts to put in place requirements. whatever they are. there's a role that leaders and

states can play. there's a role that civic leaders can play and, sure, there's a role the president of the united states can play as well. he's going to speak later today on this. but putting in place additional requirements to ensure more people are vaccinated, kids are protected, parents can feel calmer about sending their kids to school, something that's key for mental health, emotional health, that certainly is a part of his speech later this afternoon. >> so the speech today, can i ask it's a six-point plan or we're told there are six areas. but what's the overall goal here? >> well, the overall goal is to speak directly to the american people about what's next on covid. and we know that while there's been a range of issues that we've all been discussing that are also vitally important whether it's afghanistan or the build back better agenda that most people in this country, covid, addressing covid, returning to some version of normalcy is their number one, two and three issue. he'll talk about the progress we made, john and also talk about

what's next. that includes getting more people who are unvaccinated vaccinated. that means reducing hospitalizations. that means putting in place more testing requirements. and putting in place more protections in the form of boosters to make sure people have an even greater level of protection. that's what the president will talk about. and he also will acknowledge the fact that the 175 million people who are vaccinated out there, many of them are frustrated. they want to go back to normal. of course they do. that's going to require moving more unvaccinated people to a vaccinated status. that's what he'll talk about. >> we heard howard stern and michael smerconish and jim u justice republican governor in west virginia. they're coddling the unvaccinated. what wr is the white house on this? >> they're not alone and that's reflective of millions of americans across the country. now, we don't want this to be a vaccinated versus unvaccinated issue. that's not what we're aiming toward or looking to do here.

but what we are focussed on doing is protecting more people. and you talk -- you started our interview here talking about kids who are under 12. we know what works. we know if they're surrounded by adults who are vaccinated they'll be better protected. we know how to protect people who are immunocompromised. we know how to safely go back to sporting events and safely go back to concerts and people are sick and tired of waiting. we know requirements work. we put in place some mandates over the past couple months for the components of the federal government. many big companies put in place requirements. we have seen them work and they've also become more popular in part probably because vaccinated people want to return to some version of normal. >> if i can i want to run through a couple major overnight developments on different fronts i want to get the white house position on. we learned that there is a plane in kabul that will be leaving at some point carrying as many as 200 people including some americans leaving for doha. what can you tell us about this? >> well, i can't get into any

specific details for security reasons, john, but what i can tell you is that one of our focuses, the focus of our secretary of state who has been on the ground the last couple of days and our diplomats in the region, are working overnight every night all night is to get these planes, get this airport operational. and qataris, the airlines, they have been a key partner in this. what we're working to do is get flights in and out of the airport to help people who want to depart depart. people who are eligible for different programs we have from the united states, special immigrant visa programs and others. so, this is what we have been working toward. every moment of everyday and it's something we hope will be instrumental moving forward. >> "the wall street journal" reports that the biden administration is going to sue texas to try to stop their new near abortion ban from continuing. what can you tell us about this? >> well, the president on the day this announcement was made in texas, the president made

pretty clear to the department of justice, to the department of health and human services that they were to do everything they could to protect a woman's right to healthcare. a woman's right to choose. so there were steps the department of justice announced, the attorney general announced on monday, additional steps they've been considering. we'll let them announce any legal actions, of course, from their end. hope to hear more soon. but this is certainly consistent with the president's call for urgency and for action to protect women's healthcare in texas. >> lawsuit announced today? >> we'll see. we'll leave it to the department of justice to announce any specific details or plans. >> all right. so the white house asked for several members of these military academy advisory boards to resign or they would be removed. many have refused to resign. so what happens to them now? >> well, we're confident in our legal abilities here, but i will tell you, john, no one is looking to have a battle here. the president of the united states just as every president

and every administration and cabinet members have the right to appoint people they deem as qualified as aligned with the administration's viewpoint -- priorities to these boards. and to any position in the federal government. and that's what we're really talking about here. but, we're confident in our right to make new decisions about who serves on these boards. >> traditionally these appointees do serve out their full three-year term, though. why is there no distinction between the likes of kellyanne conway or sean spicer political operatives and megan mobbs or general mcmaster who is receiving an award from west point later this week, why no distinction? >> well look, again, this really goes back to what every president's right is, which is to appoint individuals they choose because they're aligned with their values, because they're aligned with the qualifications that they deem or any of these positions in any of these boards. that's what's taking place here. it's not personal. i will say that there are some

people, of course, on these boards who have supported or stood by silently while their former boss supported an insurrection. that's not really okay with us either. you're right, there's a span of individuals on these boards. it's really not more complicated than the president, his cabinet and team wanting to be able to appoint a fresh layer of people. >> as far as you're concerned, are they effectively off the boards now? have they been fired from these boards as of this morning? >> well, they've certainly been -- it's been conveyed to them as you know yesterday that they were asked to resign in terms of their exact status this morning, i don't have an update. again we're confident in our legal capacity here. >> white house press secretary jen psaki, thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you. still ahead, we'll speak live with a school board member in los angeles about today's potentially landmark move to require covid vaccinations for students. and one part of the country is seeing a fast rise in covid cases yet vaccinations are still well below average. why many people here are still hesitant.

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>> i had both shots of the vaccine, and people just acted like it doesn't help. >> it bothers me sometimes that people act like covid is a big joke. i always want to say, well, why don't you just come right up here to the cemetery and i'll show you my husband's grave and i can show you it's no joke. >> over the five days we spent in carter county, missouri, it felt like covid was closing in around us. the positivity rate kept climbing and is now 32%. some people we wanted to interview told us they just been exposed or were too sick to talk. >> this is a chicken. hold that in your hand. >> reporter: we first came in october of 2020 when covid was starting to surge in rural america. we heard one of the diners we interviewed in had close ffrd covid, we wanted to come back and see what had changed. many thought covid was over but in the past few weeks it's raged through town. the vaccination rate is very low with only 27% fully vaccinated. >> the overwhelm ing majority o

our patients admitted to the hospital with clinically severe covid are unvaccinated. i didn't realize how unvaccinated we were. i guess that's my fault. i didn't continue to push as hard as i should have to get people vaccinated because i thought everybody was because the virus and the disease was abating. but i was wrong. it came back like a brush fire. >> reporter: are you vaccinated? >> nope, but i will be. i was pretty skeptical of it until i watched all this happen. >> reporter: jim's wife ruth fought cancer for 12 years but covid killed her in eight years. he says the doctor told her not to take the vaccine because of her chemo. >> when did your wife die? >> july 20th. i talked to her up until sunday when she died. she said this is bad. she said, you'll need the shot. i think she's right. >> reporter: last time we came here the debate was over masks.

and it had gotten very political. >> we sit in the coffee shop and watch people walk in the door. we look at a mask and we all look at each other and we go, democrat. >> reporter: later that fall, there was a covid surge in the area. but the health center says this wave is much worse. and van buren after two days of school this august about 20 kids tested positive. five days later, almost a quarter of students were under quarantine. the preschool had to close for two weeks. >> come get your food, tyler. >> people in town were gossiping about who had it and where they got it. they all seen our last story. >> the last story, well, i count that as bull shit myself. >> tell me why? >> i think people here try to take care of each other. coffee shop don't know what they're talking about and talking about covid. they need to walk through the covid ward. >> jim admits some people are pretty set in their views. >> good friend of mine, he hasn't had the shot. but everywhere he goes, he goes any place he wears a mask and

he's probably one of the best guys i know that you're not going to change anything about him. you maybe ought to interview him. >> would he talk to you? >> yeah but you wouldn't like what he would tell you. >> that's okay. that's okay. >> let me get him on the phone. hello? >> i'm surrounded. >> who are you surrounded by? >> a bunch of women. okay. i'll be right there. >> hey, they're going to interview you. >> oh, no they ain't. >> oh, hell ya. come on. >> can i sit down there by you? >> why do you not want the vaccine? >> i ain't taking that shit. i ain't taking it. i don't like people trying to push a shot on me or something else because i'm bull headed fella you ever seen. >> reporter: last fall covid put him in the hospital for seven days. >> i was on everything they had. steroids, full drip, plasma from

people that had covid, drugs that they give and they finally burn it out of them. >> reporter: what's the difference between the vaccine and the drugs that you did take? >> well, i would have took anything. it wouldn't have mattered what it was. >> reporter: but why would you test the medicine and not the vaccine? >> am i going to have to tell her? >> i don't know. >> well, the one thing is they shafted my president. if they would have had the vaccine, already had it. already had it but they wouldn't give it to him because they knew damn good and well he would be re-elected. so they had to swindle down and keep it from him just until the election was over. here we got it. shafted me of my president, i ain't taking your medicine. i'll take what they give him but

i'm not taking yours. >> he took the vaccine, though. >> well, he might have. i don't know that. >> i think they give him the regeneron. >> they did give him that but he did take the vaccine. >> later on probably. yeah. i'm not saying he didn't. i don't know that. but that's what pissed me off and i ain't taking it because i'm that bull head. ♪ >> there's no evidence for wayland's theory, but he wasn't alone in his skepticism. >> have you thought about getting the vaccine? >> no way. >> oh really, how come? >> because i don't want to get sick. >> and you think the vaccine would make you more sick? >> yeah, probably. made my mom sick. >> okay. you mean when she got -- >> well, she got the vaccine in february. >> and she got sick on monday with covid? >> yep. >> maybe covid. is she going to get tested? >> probably not. she's just saying home. >> oh, okay. >> i'm bringing her groceries and doing whatever i can away from her. >> yeah.

>> one of her friends tested positive. and she had been with him, so more than likely. >> i'm really behind. a week and a half be sick. hey, i had covid. if >> reporter: so, did you have the vaccine? >> no. >> why not? >> there's not enough research on it. i'm not totally against the shot. if i have to take it and it's going to help me in the future and not hurt me, yeah, i may take it. >> reporter: are you vaccinated? >> i am not. >> reporter: and why not? >> i just haven't got vaccinated. >> reporter: okay. >> i had a lot of people around me's had it. i just haven't ever got vaccinated. around here, country folk and it's hard to get people to do something they don't understand completely or they don't feel the need to. >> reporter: but are you in that category? >> well, i guess.

i won't really get deep with you. i believe if the good lord wants me now, it doesn't matter if i take the vaccine or i don't. a lot of people say, it may be common sense, you ought to get the shot. that's just the way i look at things. >> i don't want to ever give anybody an excuse for doing something like not getting vaccinated. but the reasons do hearken to someone who has, you know, been told that they're a dumb hill billy all their life by the rest of the country. that's not an excuse, but it's part of the reason. i don't know that we're oppressed or disenfranchised. i don't know if we deserve to even feel that way here, but we are a fly-over state, in a social situation where peer pressure is so hard. we've had a lot of trouble to

try to get people vaccinated, to break out of that peer group is very hard for people. >> reporter: has anyone wanted to get vaccinated in secret? >> well, um, yeah, absolutely. >> reporter: tell me what they say. >> when they're in my office and they say, i don't want to get vaccinated and this is why, and it's usually at the very best, a specious reason or fallacious reason, we can sneak one in your arm. that's our goal. >> it's not hard. the hospital said more people in van buren got the vaccine after two kids were hospitalized this summer. last year we talked to brian who was pretty cavalier about covid. >> i guess if i get it and it kills me, then it's slow walking inside singing for the family. >> reporter: what would you put on your tombstone? >> didn't wear a mask. >> reporter: it took some c convincing, but he agreed to talk to us about what's happened since. >> no one trusts me. it's not my fault no one is

wearing their mask. it's not my fault no one's taken the vaccine. it's the government's fault. >> did you get the vaccine? >> doesn't matter whether i got the vaccine or not, whether i did or didn't. they don't care whether -- who you are. whether you think you're a big tough guy or whether you're anything. it doesn't matter. did you get it? it can kill you, end of story. i don't want my wife to have to wonder when they put you in medical induced coma and stick a tube in your throat, is he going to come back out. that's why i got a vaccine. >> reporter: ellie reeve, cnn, van buren, missouri. >> that is really -- we've talked a lot about it, berman, how fear is motivating people,

right, that they're afraid. they see these stories. they're afraid. i mean, someone like that has seen a story. he's seen a wife on television talking about her spouse or a husband talking about their spouse and knowing that perhaps if they had just gotten vaccinated, maybe hearing that warning on the death bed, you know. >> that's what jumped out at me from that piece. there's a lot in there. when ellie was saying there is an increase in vaccinations when two young people ended up hospitalized and severely ill from covid, that's what motivated people to get vaccinated. by the way, there aren't many people vaccinated there, 27%. it did increase the rate. that's the motivator, fear. not anything that's being said at the leadership level. >> yeah, i think they're seeing people who they identify with, right, telling them they should get a vaccine. people who are in a situation, horrible situation that no one wants to be in, which is losing

a loved one. and they see themselves in that. and they know that it could happen. and with seek the younger people as you mentioned, i think especially you talk about it may be happening to your kids, and that's -- all betts are off. >> one last thing in terms of being politicized there. the man who admitted to ellie the reason he was not getting the vaccine is it wasn't approved before the election. he was bitter that it wasn't approved before the election when it might have helped donald trump get re-elected. it didn't matter to him -- him that trump got the vaccine. he didn't believe trump got the vaccine. but to hear that, that's not a medical decision, that's a political decision. case in point that the vaccine has been politicized. >> yeah, and i also would say i wonder in a case like that if donald trump -- we've wondered if donald trump had come out and been supportive of the vaccine, would it have made a difference for people who support him. perhaps in the case like that it would have. but instead, he got the vaccine in january and we didn't find out about it later.

he did not champion this vaccine that was ushered through during his administration. and now there will be this question, could he have saved lives if he did. >> really great report from ellie reeve. so, almost everyone knows where they were almost 20 years ago to the day on september 11. it's what the country and the major figures have been through since then that really no one could have seen coming. john avalon with the reality check. >> it's been 20 years, roughly a third of americans were either children or not yet born during the attacks of 9/11. but trust me when i say that our nation was briefly ignited in shock and grief and resolve. ands hard as it might be to believe, we even transcended politics for a time. which is why looking back it's kind of surreal to see where we've ended up now. who would have believed that the taliban, who gave shelter to bin laudin, would be back in control of afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost america an

estimated $2 trillion, nearly 2,500 u.s. soldiers' lives. who would have believed that rudy giuliani, man known as america's mayor, would find his reputation in tatters after the attacks he was compared to church hill, lauded as a tower across partisan lines. i was proud to work for him in city hall. 20 years later he's under investigation in an office he once led. his words played a dual impeachment, called for an attack on our capitol. who would have believed donald trump, the man who bragged on 9/11 his building was tallest on the new york skyline would have attacked the president, banning immigration from several majority immigrations while in a peace agreement. or the deal would be followed through by the next president, joe biden. he'd been a senator almost 30

years when he did a september 2021 town hall with cross fire co-hosted by young tucker carlson. the one-time bow tie aficionado opposes foreign wars. back then he was already floating the false idea that iraq had something to do with the attack. >> israeli intelligence, terrorism, apparently believes that iraq had a role in this. that's a view that's currency in washington. a, do you think iraq had a role, and b, does that make iraq the enemy? >> big nations can't bluff. we can't miss on this. we cannot go out and cause the coalition that this administration is painstakingly put together, including the arab world, including the islamic world, including our erstwhile former enemies and/or possible adversaries in the future. we can't go out there and make a mistake or in a sense declare

war on every country that has in any way harbored terrorists in the past. >> of course, the invasion of iraq is where things really started to go off the rails. america overreached, moral authority was compromised and we took our eye off what should have been a singular focus, stopping radical islamist terrorists. trying instead to remake the middle east. instead, 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed is still in guantanamo bay and getting a pretrial hearing this week. should have been tried in the u.s. court, preferably new york a long time ago. to add insult to injury, this saturday while presidents bush, obama and biden mark the anniversary of 9/11 memorial, ex-president trump will be at a fight for aging heavy weights in florida. none of these tragic and ironic twists should stop us from remembering what happened that day. we cannot give in to 9/11

amnesia. that day our nation met the worst of humanity with the best of humanity. the firefighters and police officers and passengers on flight 93 set an enduring example of what courage in a democracy looks like. they ran toward danger, to help other people. people they didn't know. they ran into the fire, showing a selfless commitment to the common good in a time of crisis. i've always resisted calling the attacks of 9/11 a tragedy. it was an act of war. tragedies are self-inflicted. but that brings me to a final sickening twist. it's always been a given that our nation could unite in a time of crisis, but we can no longer take that for granted now. that's something we've done to ourselves. but it's not something we have to accept as inevitable. i still believe that the character of our country has not changed. that's why we need to learn from history, and honor the examples of the heroes of 9/11 now more than ever, channeling their commitment to the common good